IGE: Reimagining the STEM Doctorate: The Pathways to Entrepreneurship (PAtENT) program

IGE：重新构想 STEM 博士学位：创业之路 (PAtENT) 计划

• 批准号: 1954978
• 负责人: Praveen Ramaprabhu
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1954978&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IGE; Reimagining; STEM; Doctorate; Pathways

Doctoral programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are designed primarily to train candidates in conducting original research and to prepare them for careers as faculty members at institutions of higher education. In this model, the capstone requirement for the STEM PhD is satisfied through the publication of original research in academic journals, where the work must be evaluated favorably by experts through peer-review. In recent years, there has been an increasing participation of STEM PhDs in technology entrepreneurship, through the development of patentable technologies, and the formation of startup companies. The STEM PhD program, as it exists, does not adequately provide this growing proportion of the STEM workforce who are active in entrepreneurship with the necessary professional skills and preparation. This National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) will introduce a novel approach in which STEM PhD students will develop patentable technologies as the capstone requirement. These innovations will be implemented in a new program called Pathways to Entrepreneurship (PAtENT), which will provide an alternate pathway to earning a doctoral degree that has the potential to spur graduation rates, generate employment in the local communities in which it is deployed, and maintain the nation’s edge in technological innovation. The central goal of the project will be to develop an alternate roadmap for STEM PhD students that is scalable and reflects the rapidly evolving workforce needs. This goal will be achieved without sacrificing the technical rigor of the traditional PhD program, by subjecting the patent applications to external peer review. An independent evaluator will collect extensive data on the efficacy of the program, and address specific objectives such as the alignment of the roadmap with the core scientific and professional elements required for a PhD, assess the scalability potential of the pilot study, develop recommendations for STEM programs at other doctoral institutions across the country, and measure the participation rates and employment outcomes of under-represented minorities targeted by the program. The evaluation will consist of a mixed-methods design that will include surveys, polls and interviews developed for current students and faculty, and reflective questions for the project leadership. The project will emphasize the recruitment of female and veteran students, groups that are currently under-represented in the technology startup workforce. If successful, the project will help modernize STEM doctoral programs to suit the needs of the country’s future as a knowledge-based economy. The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 博士课程主要旨在培训候选人进行原创性研究，并为他们成为高等教育机构的教职人员做好准备。在这种模式中，STEM 博士学位的最高要求是。通过在学术期刊上发表原创研究来满足要求，其中的工作必须通过同行评审得到专家的好评近年来，通过开发可专利技术和技术创业，STEM 博士越来越多地参与其中。初创公司的组建。现有的 STEM 博士项目并不能充分为不断增长的活跃于创业的 STEM 劳动力提供必要的专业技能和准备。北卡罗来纳大学获得国家科学基金会研究生教育创新奖 (IGE)。夏洛特大学 (UNCC) 将引入一种新颖的方法，其中 STEM 博士生将开发可专利技术作为顶点要求，这些创新将在名为“创业之路”(PAtENT) 的新计划中实施，该计划将为获得创业机会提供另一种途径。该项目的核心目标是为 STEM 博士生制定替代路线图，以提高毕业率，为所在社区创造就业机会，并保持国家在技术创新方面的优势。具有可扩展性，并反映了快速变化的劳动力需求。通过对专利申请进行外部同行评审，可以在不牺牲传统博士项目技术严谨性的情况下实现这一目标。和解决具体目标，例如使路线图与博士学位所需的核心科学和专业要素保持一致，评估试点研究的可扩展潜力，为全国其他博士机构的 STEM 项目提出建议，并衡量参与率和该计划针对代表性不足的少数族裔的就业结果，将采用混合方法设计，其中包括针对当前学生和教师进行的调查、民意调查和访谈，以及针对项目领导层的反思性问题。招募女学生和退伍军人学生、团体如果成功，该项目将有助于实现 STEM 博士项目的现代化，以满足该国未来知识经济的需求。 IGE 的目标是试点、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式获得支持：评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。